1. Find and read at least
FIVE
peer-reviewed journal articles relevant to your
species. Review articles are not acceptable.
2. Develop a hypothesis based on your readings about your species. State the
hypothesis in your Introduction or Methods section.
3. Martin & Bateson,
Measuring Behaviour
, is your “bible” for observational
research. Make sure to read before beginning your zoo observations, and include
it in your references.
4. Create an ethogram with which to collect data, making sure to select behaviors
relevant to your hypothesis. Operationally define each of these behaviors, citing
appropriate references.
5. A minimum of
10
behavioral categories should be included in your ethogram.
You may need more behavioral categories; use as many as needed (10+) to
addresses your hypothesis.
6. Choose your sampling methods (e.g., focal, dyad, group) and method of data
collection (e.g., 1-0 time sampling on a 2 minute interval). This is your research
design.
What is an hypothesis? How to develop one for your zoo observation project and
paper:
Step 1: An hypothesis is a concrete statement or question that can be supported or
answered with either a yes or no answer or with a trend in the data.
For example:
“Do captive adult male chimpanzees exhibit greater levels of aggression than
females?”
Or
“Male captive adult chimpanzees exhibit greater levels of aggression than females.”
Or
“Infant ringtail lemurs spend more time in proximate and direct physical contact with
their mothers than do their juvenile siblings.”
Or
“Do captive female polar bears exhibit fewer stereotypies than the males in the same
enclosure?”
Or
“What percentage of time per day do captive King Penguins spend engaged in social
interactions, swimming and feeding compared to the Macaroni Penguins in the same
enclosure?”
Step 2: Develop a testable hypothesis for an observational project. It should include
comparisons of categories of behavior
. For example, within a behavioral category
(e.g., social interactions), you can compare males and females within a species, or
infants to juveniles, or infants and juveniles to adults, etc. Or you could compare
behaviors exhibited with high numbers of zoo visitors present to when there are few
zoo visitors present. Be creative with your ideas.